Stephen Zunes

Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and chair of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at the University of San Francisco, where he has taught since 1995. "A native of North Carolina, Professor Zunes received his PhD. from Cornell University, his M.A. from Temple University and his B.A. from Oberlin College. He has previously served on the faculty of Ithaca College, the University of Puget Sound, and Whitman College. He serves as an advisory committee member and senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus Project and as an associate editor of Peace Review.

Background information
"Professor Zunes is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, social movements, and human rights. He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999) and the author of the highly-acclaimed Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and the forthcoming Western Sahara: Nationalism and Conflict and International Accountability(Syracuse University Press.) "He was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship on Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies at Dartmouth College and a Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies. He also served as founding director of the Institute for a New Middle East Policy and as a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, the Institute for Global Security Studies and the United States Institute of Peace. In 2002, he won recognition from the Peace and Justice Studies Association as Peace Scholar of the Year.

"Dr. Zunes has made frequent visits to the Middle East and other conflict regions, where he has met with top government officials, academics, journalists and opposition leaders.

"Dr. Zunes is a foreign affairs columnist for the National Catholic Reporter and a regular contributor to the Common Dreams website and Tikkun magazine. His op-ed columns have been circulated through Knight-Ridder and other wire services and have appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. In addition, he has spoken at over 80 colleges and universities and scores of community groups and is a frequent guest on National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, PBS, BBC, MSNBC and other media outlets for analysis on breaking world events. He serves on the advisory committee of the Tikkun Community, the academic council of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict and as a consultant for a number of peace and human rights organizations in both the United States and overseas."

"Stephen Zunes, associate professor of Politics and chair of the Peace & Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco, was the recipient of the first "Peace Scholar of the Year Award" at the annual meeting of the Peace & Justice Studies Association October 5, 2002 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC."

Zunes wrote a letter to RightWeb in late 2007 regarding complaints he had about Tom Barry's article "The New Politics of Political Aid in Venezuela," (July 18).

His wife Nanlouise Wolfe, serves on the staff of the Resource Center for Nonviolence.

In December 2007, Zunes attended a conference in Australia titled The Politics of the Middle East: The Roles of Europe, Asia and Australia. Other major speakers included: Bertrand Badie, Amin Saikal, and Hisae Nakanishi. (Introduction by Joseph A. Camilleri.) Radio Interview

On the Obama Victory
On "the one hand, Obama's core foreign policy advisers have included some of the more critical, innovative and enlightened members of the foreign policy establishment, such as Joseph Cirincione, Lawrence Korb, Susan Rice, Richard Clarke and Samantha Power. On the other hand, his advisers have also included the likes of Dennis Ross, Anthony Lake and Merrill McPeak, whose commitment to international law and human rights have proven to be very weak."

Affiliations

 * Associate Editor, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice
 * Chair, Board of Academic Advisors, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, 2006-
 * Chair, Commission on Law and Peace in the Middle East, Toda Institute, 2002-2003
 * Member, Governing Council, International Peace Research Association, 2000-2002
 * Convener, Nonviolence Section, International Peace Research Association, 1998-2000
 * Member, Commission on Peace Building in the Middle East, International Peace Research Association, 1992-1994
 * Advisory Committee (2005), Foreign Policy In Focus
 * Seminar on Nonviolent Civic Strategies, Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (Cairo), May 20-24, 2007
 * University of San Francisco, Human Rights Working Group
 * International Liaisons, International Association of Educators for World Peace
 * Staff, Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies

Contact Details

 * Stephen Zunes web site

Interview

 * "The Israel Lobby: Jeffrey Blankfort vs. Stephen Zunes", Moderated by Khalil Bendib on Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on KPFA, Berkeley, California :: June 1 and 8 2006.
 * What Influences US Foreign Policy on Israel?" Jeffrey Blankfort debates scholar Stephen Zunes, 2007.
 * Interview with Stephen Zunes on the Ongoing Assault on Gaza, IndyBay, January 5, 2009.
 * "A Debate on Senator Joe Biden's Foreign Policy", Democracy Now!, August 25, 2008

Books

 * Consistently Opposing Killing: From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty and War (with Rachel MacNair), (edited) (Praeger Publishers, 2008).
 * Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism, Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2003
 * Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective (with Lester Kurtz and Sara Beth Asher) (edited), Blackwell Publishers, 1999

Books in Progress

 * No Stinking Badges: U.S. Middle East Policy, the United Nations, and International Law, Berkeley: University of California Press
 * Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution in Northwest Africa (with Jacob Mundy), Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press

Chapters in Edited Volumes

 * “The United States and the Undermining of the Nonproliferation Regime,” in David Krieger, ed, The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons, Transaction Publishers [forthcoming]
 * “The Role of External Actors,” (with Saad Eddine Ibrahim) in Sherif Mansour and Maria Stephan, eds., Civilian Resistance in the Middle East, Routledge [forthcoming]
 * “Western Sahara,” (with Salka Barca) in Sherif Mansour and Maria Stephan, eds., Civilian Resistance in the Middle East, Routledge [forthcoming]

Other

 * Stephen Zunes, "Noble Rhetoric Supports Democracy While Ignoble Policies Support Repression", CommonDreams.org, November 8, 2003.
 * Stephen Zunes, "Don't Credit Reagan for Ending the Cold War", Foreign Policy In Focus, June 16, 2004.
 * Stephen Zunes, "Why Progressives Must Embrace the Ukrainian Pro-Democracy Movement", Foreign Policy In Focus, December 2004.
 * Stephen Zunes, "US Support for Repression in Uzbekistan Belies Pro-Democracy Rhetoric", Antiwar.com, June 25, 2005.
 * Stephen Zunes, "Fear-Mongering", Znet, November 01, 2005.
 * Stephen Zunes, "Sharp Attack Unwarranted", ''Foreign Policy in Focus, June 27, 2008.

Related Sourcewatch

 * Joseph Massad
 * As'ad AbuKhalil
 * Israel Lobby
 * Sarah Beth Asher
 * Sane Freeze
 * Peace Action

Criticism of Zunes

 * Edward S. Herman, "A Reply to Stephen Zune's on the Jews and Cynthia McKinney's Defeat", CommonDreams.org, August 27, 2002.
 * "An Interview with Daniel Pipes and Stephen Zunes", Fox News: Hannity & Colmes, September 27, 2002.
 * Jeffrey Blankfort, "The Israel Lobby and the Left: Uneasy Questions", Left Curve, May 2003.
 * Edward S. Herman, "The Cruise Missile Left, Part 4: The Nation Magazine's Forum on "Humanitarian Intervention,"", Swans Magazine, September 1, 2003.
 * Gabriele Zamparini, "Stephen Zunes and “the original U.S. goal of establishing a pro-American secular free market-oriented democratic government” in Iraq", The Cats Blog, October 9, 2007.
 * Mazin Qumsiyeh, "Connecting the Dots: Iraq & Palestine: The Israeli Lobby and the Iraq War", Undated.
 * Rostam Pourzal, "U.S. Intentions and Options in Iran: A Response to Stephen Zunes", MR Zine, September 8, 2007.
 * Michael Barker, "Capital-driven Civil Society", State of Nature, May 18, 2008.
 * Stephen Gowans, "Defending the Indefensible: Sham Democracy Promoter Defends Imperialist Ties", What's Left, June 29, 2008. (Response to Zunes article: "Sharp Attack Unwarranted")
 * Michael Barker, "Sharp Reflection Warranted: Nonviolence in the Service of Imperialism", Swans, June 30, 2008. (Response to Zunes article: "Sharp Attack Unwarranted")
 * George Cicariello-Maher & Eva Golinger, "Debate on the Albert Einstein Institution and its Involvement in Venezuela", Venezuelanalysis, August 5, 2008.
 * Stephen Zunes, George Cicariello-Maher & Eva Golinger, "Debate on The Albert Einstein Institution and its Involvement in Venezuela, Pt. 2", Venezuelanalysis, August 28, 2008.
 * Stephen Gowans, "Zunes’ actions: I’m all for free speech, so long as it doesn’t affect me personally", What's Left, September 7, 2008.
 * Netfa Freeman, "Zimbabwe and the Battle of Ideas", Black Agenda Report, September 25, 2008.
 * Stephen Gowans, "Stephen Zunes’ False Statements on Zimbabwe and Woza", What's Left, September 30, 2008.
 * David Peterson, "Non-Violence 101", ZNet Blog, June 30, 2009. (A Reply to David Peterson by Stephen Zunes)
 * David Peterson, "A Reply to Stephen Zunes", ZNet Blog, July 5, 2009.
 * Stephen Gowans, "Overthrow Inc.: Peter Ackerman’s quest to do what the CIA used to so, and make it seem progressive", What's Left, August 6, 2009.
 * Michael Barker, "Stephen Zunes and the Zionist Tinderbox", PULSE Media, May 12, 2010.